STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford senior forward Erica McCall is one of 25 players on the "Wade Watch" list of candidates for the 2017 Wade Trophy, the Women's Basketball Coaches Association announced Thursday.
Now in its 40th year, The Wade Trophy is named in honor of the late, legendary Delta State University coach, Lily Margaret Wade, who won three consecutive national championships with the Lady Statesmen during her six seasons as head coach. First awarded in 1978 by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (AAHPERD), now known as SHAPE America, the The Wade Trophy has been presented to the WBCA NCAA Division I National Player of the Year since 2001.
The senior captain is also on the Naismith Watch List released yesterday by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. Stanford has had two players take home The Wade Trophy, Jennifer Azzi in 1990 and Candice Wiggins in 2008.
McCall paces Stanford in scoring (17.1), rebounding (7.4) and blocks (2.3) through the season's first seven games and is coming off a MVP performance at the Cancun Challenge in which she led the Cardinal to three wins and a tournament title by averaging 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds.
Since the start of her junior year, McCall is averaging 15.3 points on 51.6 percent shooting, 9.1 rebounds and 2.0 blocks. She is one of only two players in the country averaging 15.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks while converting more than half of her shots since the beginning of last season.
Her 22 career double-doubles are tied for 18th among active NCAA players and she's had 20 in her last 41 games. Among those active players, only Alaina Coates of South Carolina (24), Lexi Martins of George Washington (24), Nia Coffey (21) of Northwestern and Brionna Jones (21) of Maryland have had more since the start of the 2015-16 season.
McCall's 66 blocks last season tied for third in Stanford single-season history and her 153 career blocks rank fifth at Stanford behind Jayne Appel (278), Chiney Ogwumike (202), Val Whiting (201) and Kristen Newlin (163).
An All-Pac-12 pick and Pac-12 All-Defensive Team selection as a junior, McCall checked in at No. 23 in espnW's preseason list of the best women's college basketball players in 2016-17 and was also named to the five-person preseason All-Pac-12 team.
McCall and the Cardinal are in Bakersfield for a game with the Roadrunners tonight at 7 p.m. It'll be a homecoming for the Stanford senior, who starred at Ridgeview High School and whose father Greg is the head women's coach at CSU Bakersfield.
